The Missouri gas chamber mugshot everyone asks about
ST. LOUIS – Claude McGee is a little-known figure in Missouri history. He was one of the 40 inmates executed in the gas chamber from 1937 to 1989.
McGee’s mug shot, mounted among others outside the gas chamber at the Missouri State Prison in Jefferson City, is among the most intriguing. The prison is now a museum.
Michael Lear, Podcast Host of ‘Show Me Murder,’ has been an MSP tour guide for the past 12 years, and he mentions that McGee’s mug shot is the most questioned.
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“McGee has become something of a legend at Missouri State Penitentiary. Of the 40 people whose photos hang on the wall of the gas chamber, the people who died there, his garners perhaps more questions than any of the others because of his appearance,” said Lear in a FOX 2 interview. “People ask whether he is crazy, and whether they follow-up with it or not, I believe what they’re really asking is, if he was crazy, whether he should have been spared the death penalty because he was insane. After 12 years of being asked those questions myself as an MSP tour guide, I decided it was time to try to come up with an answer.”
In his newest episode, Lear sets out to find out if McGee was indeed insane. According to McGee’s medical records, he was found to be psychotic and was transferred to what is now the Fulton State Hospital, where he was hospitalized for the criminally insane.
McGee’s hospital records show that he underwent electroshock therapy and other “treatments” that were new at the time.
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“McGee took on a new life thanks to the tours, when by comparison to the vast array of inmates who passed through MSP in 168 years he might have disappeared into obscurity. In fact, his story turned out to be fairly fascinating,” said Lear. “He also holds the distinction of being the first inmate executed in Missouri for a crime committed against another inmate. He shows us that there are countless other stories to be told about those who were incarcerated, or worked, at MSP.”
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McGee was initially imprisoned for life for killing a man while robbing his home in 1935. For the second murder, he killed John Manor, his partner during the first murder, beating him to death with a hammer in the prison yard on January 10, 1948, over a $20 debt.
On October 31, 1945, he escaped with inmate Bert Ivan Grimm and kidnapped a Jefferson City insurance agent.
McGee was executed at the MSP on January 5, 1951, with his last meal consisting of Stewed Chicken, biscuits, and ice cream. When asked why he didn’t eat his meal, he said, “I’m saving it for later.”
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